Trapped in transit

Clickhappy! Jun '16
By Vahista Dastoor

“The photographer is an armed version of the solitary walker reconnoitering, stalking, cruising the urban inferno, the voyeuristic stroller who discovers the city as a landscape of voluptuous extremes” – Susan Sontag, 1977 

Trapped in transit, Vahista Dastoor spends 13 hours in Bangkok airport – anonymous and unseen, honing her street photography skills.

Gendering the trekking trail

Insight, Travel Travel, Nov '15
By Paramita Banerjee

Kanchanjungha from Sandakphu
Photo credit: Rubina Sen

Even my worst enemies, whoever and wherever they are, would acknowledge that I don’t lack in taking risks. So, past 56 years of age, I decided to resume one of the hobbies I’d loved as a young person – trekking. A trek, by dictionary definition, is a long arduous journey and in India, it certainly involves the mountains. The higher the altitude, the more thrilling is the trek for most Indian trekkers I’ve known.

Perhaps naturally, no trek organiser would readily include anyone of my age, especially after a gap of almost 23 years. Not even when the trek organiser is a friend and a colleague in the social development sector that provides me my bread, butter and jam. I needed to prove my fitness. A 14-kilometre walk across a mountain forest, covering two villages and a viewing point was proof enough for me and I managed to persuade this friend into including me for a Sandakphu trek in May this year. This one is considered a beginners’ trek, after all, and ideal for someone well past her prime seeking to resume trekking after a long gap.

Bhadu calling

Clickhappy! May '15
Pawan Dhall files a photo-report on a visit to Birbhum district in West Bengal to record a film-making initiative on Bhadu Devi. The film, much like the goddess herself, has intrinsic links to many aspirations for personal fulfillment and a better life

Uchpur village is about an hour’s drive from Sainthia town,
nearest railhead after a four-hour journey from Kolkata.
Photo credit: Pawan Dhall

The Bhadu festival and folk art form of Birbhum and neighbouring districts in West Bengal has its origins in the story of Bhadravati, a princess who lived sometime in mid 19th century Bengal. According to one version of folklore around her, she gets separated from her lover because of the evil designs of a jealous king. Her search for her lover proves fruitless and she commits suicide. Bhadravati or Bhadu Devi is worshipped through songs, dance, fairs and cultural programmes in the month of Bhadra (mid August to mid September). On the last day, her idol is immersed in a river. Songs, mainly on fulfillment of wishes for a happy marriage or birth of children, form the main attraction of the festival in which both professional artist groups and amateurs take part.

For a breath of that Kolkata air

Travel Travel, Dec '14

Aude Vincent on her nth India sojourn of train rides, road journeys, Durga Puja, NGOs and the distinctive Kolkata air

A Kolkata scene. All photo credits:
Aude Vincent

September 10, 2014, 2 pm, Kolkata airport. Far from my first trip to India, maybe the sixth, in a bit more than 10 years. And like each time, the childish joy of the first breath – the air is damp, rich, with a distinctive smell. And no, I’m not talking of the pollution! In Paris I can find hot snacks in packets and Alphonso mangoes directly imported, Tamil food on a banana leaf and sweet paan (betel). But to smell this air I have to travel about 7,000 kilometres, and I’m glad I have to. Some things have to be missed and looked forward to, without immediate and ‘any time’ satisfaction.